unlockingheartss
ProjectCARE: Beyond Schizophrenia
17 posts
All you need to know about Schizophrenia
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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If you are interested in finding more information about Schizophrenia, here is also another useful YouTube channel you can go to! 
This is extracted from her “About” page:
“Hi, my name is Lauren and I live with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder. This is a channel dedicated to increasing knowledge around schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and mental illness. These videos are intended to be a resource for people with the diagnosis, their loved ones, and for people who just want to learn more about the illness.”
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Here’s an additional video from SAMH from their recent “Unboxing” series that seeks to debunk some myths surrounding certain mental health conditions. This episode is specifically on Schizophrenia. Do watch it!
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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We hope that this blog has been useful in increasing your awareness on Schizophrenia. In our survey, when asked about their confidence level in helping people with Schizophrenia, most of our respondents have rated below 7 with 0 being the least confident. Through this blog, we hope that you are more confident and motivated to help people with Schizophrenia. 
In addition to writing this blog, we have also created a campaign on giving.sg to provide a platform for you to contribute in helping those with Schizophrenia that are under the care of Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH). You can donate by clicking the “Donate” tab. The money collected from the donations will go directly to SAMH and we hope that the money will help to encourage the caregivers and those with Schizophrenia, that they are not alone in this journey. We appreciate any amount donated by you! 
Thank you for supporting our blog and campaign! :D
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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From the previous posts, you would have seen that the most important thing we can do is to treat them equally and normally as they are a part of the society just like us. The support and care that they get from the people around them are very crucial in improving their condition. Let’s do our part in caring for them!
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Moving on, as part of the society, here are some tips on what to do and what not to do when in contact with someone who has Schizophrenia. 
What to do:
Lend them a listening ear and encourage them 
Provide them with as much support as possible - to let them know that they are not alone
Listen to them actively and approach them as you would approach any other person
What not to do:
Being too pushy and going overboard to extent your help - they still need some space 
Pry into the details of their illness, diagnosis and health situation
Joke about their illness or take it as a trivial matter - it is a reality to them
Exaggerate the situation or have extreme reactions 
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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As mentioned in the previous post, family members and caregivers can look out for support groups for both you and your loved one.
The Singapore Schizophrenia Network (SSN) brings agencies together to provide better treatment, care and support for persons with Schizophrenia and their families.
The members of the SSN are:
Agency for Integrated Care (AIC)
Caregivers Alliance Limited
Caregivers Association of the Mentally Ill (CAMI)
Institute of Mental Health (IMH)
MINDSET
Silver Ribbon Singapore
Singapore Anglican Community Services
Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH)
Sunlove Home
Tai Pei Social Service
Hope these information have been a light to you! Remember that neither you nor your loved one is in this journey alone! 
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Next, if you are a family member or a caregiver of someone with Schizophrenia, here are some tips for you! 
What to do: 
Educate yourself about what Schizophrenia is really about - try to remove all misconceptions and learn to recognize the early warning signs of a psychotic episode
Create a conducive environment to reduce stress on him/her
Encourage him/her to be independent - set up a schedule or give him/her tasks to do and allow self-help. This allows him/her to build up his/her self-worth again.
Gently encourage them to stay in treatment and continue taking medications if they are already doing so
Speak slowly and clearly
Join them in their feelings rather than focusing on the fact that what they are experiencing is not a reality - give them a chance to be heard. This brings comfort to them and lets them know that they are not alone in what they are facing.
Look out for support groups for both yourself and your loved one - these groups need not provide medical treatment. It can just be somewhere to unwind and let out your feelings.
What not to do and things that are not helpful to your loved one:
Keep emphasizing that what they are experiencing is not true/real
Criticize them and look down on them
Being overly concerned for them - this can worsen the situation
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Now that you know more about the symptoms and causes, you might be wondering how you can help people with Schizophrenia. 
Firstly, as many of you have responded in our survey (about 60% of respondents), if you see someone exhibiting some of the “warning signs” as stated previously, you should bring him to see a psychiatrist or a counsellor, talk to him/her to identify the problem, or talk to his/her family members, instead of ignoring him/her and taking the “warning signs” lightly.
Then, how should we react when we see someone experiencing an episode? Here are some ways to avoid triggering the person even more:
Do not get angry or irritated with the person
Do not shout or threaten - your tone can be negatively misinterpreted by him/her
Follow the sitting/standing position of the person - standing when he/she is sitting can appear threatening
Minimize audio and visual distractions
Avoid having too many people present
Avoid continuous eye contact and touching him/her
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Biological causes are mainly related to disruptions of the brain and can be genetic. A child can have an increased risk of developing Schizophrenia when:
A close family member has psychotic illness
His/her mother had her first child when she was a teenager or at a later stage of life
There are complications occurring before or during birth (e.g. premature labour, low birth weight and lack of oxygen during birth) - may affect the brain development of the child, such as abnormalities in the brain tissues
Therefore, it is very crucial to maintain not only the physical aspect of health but also the mental aspect. The care and concern that each individual gets from others around him/her is very important in contributing to his/her mental health. Every concern counts! 
This is the end of this section of our blog. Do look forward to our upcoming section, which is about how you can help people with Schizophrenia!
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Although the exact causes of Schizophrenia are not known yet, there are various factors that may cause one to be at a higher risk of developing Schizophrenia. These factors can be categorized into different types. However, we will mainly talk about three types which are psychological, social and biological.
Psychological causes are mainly related to the mind and how it is affected. Someone with a history of irregular and brief symptoms of Schizophrenia will be more susceptible to developing Schizophrenia. Also, experiences of traumatic events can trigger Schizophrenia. 
Social causes are mainly due to the environment that the person is exposed to:
Nutritional deficiencies during childhood 
Emotional distress due to not having their social needs (care and concern) met 
Losing someone close to them
Loneliness or isolation
 And these may cause the person to develop Schizophrenia.
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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After learning more about the symptoms, let’s move on to the causes of Schizophrenia. From our survey, more than 70% of our respondents have chosen social (e.g. nutritional deficiencies during childhood, stressful surroundings at school/work/home) and psychological causes (e.g. traumatic events). However, only 45.9% have chosen biological causes (e.g. genetic, problems with the brain function). Therefore, we will elaborate more on the biological causes.
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Changes in mood, thinking or behaviour are “warning signs” before the actual start of a person’s Schizophrenia. The person may also start to have a deterioration in their normal functioning. This is when people around them (friends and family) need to give them extra care and attention!
And this is the end of the first section of our blog. Do look forward to the next section, which will be on the causes of Schizophrenia!
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Myth: People with Schizophrenia all have the same symptoms.
Fact: Not all people with Schizophrenia experience the same symptoms. As you would have read from the other posts earlier and may have guessed, there are a wide range of symptoms, which makes it not possible for every individual with Schizophrenia to experience all the same symptoms. Symptoms thus vary from individual to individual.
Even if 2 people experience the same symptoms, some are affected more severely than others. Example, one person with Schizophrenia may have hallucinations and hear voices that tell him/her to harm himself/herself, while another, who also has hallucinations, hears voices that tell him/her about the weather.
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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There are also cognitive symptoms of Schizophrenia, besides the positive and negative ones mentioned earlier. These symptoms have to do with the way the person’s brain function changes. He/she may have impaired reasoning, difficulty processing information to make decisions or problems with applying information immediately after learning it. Their attention, normal execution in daily life and memory will be impacted.
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Myth: The only symptoms of Schizophrenia are hallucinations (e.g. hearing voices that do not exist) and delusions (e.g. having strong false beliefs).
Fact: Hallucinations and delusions are not the only symptoms. They are only the more well known symptoms of Schizophrenia and the ones that are the most noticeable by others!
There are 2 main categories, positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms are hallucinations and delusions. On the other hand, negative symptoms can be:
Having an emotional withdrawal
Having a difficulty showing their emotions (may show no facial expressions as well)
A lack of motivation
Social withdrawal
Having difficulty functioning normally (may not be able to give a quick response in conversations, they may also have difficulty concentrating)
You may be wondering what is the difference between positive symptoms and negative symptoms. Is one “better” than the other? Are positive symptoms necessarily better to have than negative symptoms? Well, although they are termed “positive”, they are not a good thing either. The difference is what these symptoms do to a person living with Schizophrenia. Positive symptoms are the characteristics added to a person’s state and this creates distortions and new ways of experiencing the world. And, negative symptoms are characteristics that are removed from the person’s state. They take away from the normal behaviour.
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Firstly, we will be sharing about the symptoms of Schizophrenia!
In the survey that we conducted, 63.5% of our respondents correctly identified the mental illness as Schizophrenia based on the scenario given, while 25.7% of our respondents chose Anxiety Disorder instead. 
However, it is not Anxiety Disorder as people with Anxiety Disorder do not experience hallucinations and delusions as stated in the scenario. 
BUT, do you think these are the only symptoms of Schizophrenia? Do let us know about your view by clicking on the link above! :D
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unlockingheartss · 4 years ago
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Welcome to our blog!
Hello! We are Joycelyn and Lois from Temasek Polytechnic. We are currently taking Guided Learning as a module this semester. This blog is a part of our project, where we would be providing insights about Schizophrenia. 
To find out more about our project, do click the “About” tab! Insights can be found by clicking the respective tabs. Thank you! :D
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